Dead Body

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A Morgan County, W.Va., man was ordered Monday to serve a jail sentence of one to five years for concealing the dead body of a man who was found "discarded" in February 2008 in his vehicle in Berkeley County. Robert W. Unger, 48, who entered a no-contest plea to one felony count of concealment of a human body, also was fined $1,000 and ordered by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes to pay court costs. A no-contest plea means the defendant is not admitting guilt, but is stating that he will offer no defense.

WASHINGTON COUNTY pepperb@herald-mail.com A badly decomposed body found Friday on an embankment on Hopps Landing Road has been identified as Lawrence "Larry" Mitchell Skoczynski, a 46-year-old Hagerstown man with an extensive criminal history, who was released from the Washington County Detention Center on June 8, according to the Sheriff's Department and court records. Skoczynski's death has not been ruled a homicide, but his death still is under investigation, Sheriff's Department Investigator Ryan Shifflet said.

WASHINGTON COUNTY pepperb@herald-mail.com Steve Pettner doesn't look for the dead, he just finds them. After walking about 500 yards from his Hopps Landing Road cabin Friday, the former gravedigger was overcome by the smell of what he believed was a dead deer. He stopped and peered over a tree-lined embankment above Conococheague Creek, where he found a dead body. The body, whom police have not identified, is the third Pettner claims he's uncovered. "I said, 'Cripe.

Hagerstown Police officers on Friday afternoon were investigating the call for a dead body at 101 East Ave., Chief Arthur Smith said. Smith would not give additional information as of 5 p.m. As officers arrived on scene at about 3 p.m., people gathered on front porches in the neighborhood and watched the police activity. Police officers cordoned off a large area in front of the home with yellow police tape and shut the residence's front door. Sgt. Paul Kifer would provide additional information Friday evening, Smith said.

Chambersburg student dies after April 19 crash Dead body found in Sleepy Creek Motorcyclist killed in accident Preps Area Roundup -- Wildcats combine for track title Williamsport edges Boonsboro 11-10 for first win

Police investigating homicide CLEAR SPRING - A dead body lying in a pool of blood was found in a National Pike home west of Clear Spring Thursday evening, according to Maryland State Police Cpl. G.E. Spickler. He said the death was being investigated as a homicide. State police were called to the home between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and were still on the scene after 10 p.m., said Spickler. A Washington County Emergency Services dispatcher said a person who was highly upset called for help at 7:07 p.m., a dispatcher said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Police released a description Saturday of the woman whose dead body was found stuffed inside a sleeper sofa behind a convenience store here Friday. The Martinsburg Police Department said the woman was a white female in her late 50s or early 60s, approximately 5-feet 2-inches tall and weighing about 160 pounds. She had gray hair peppered with a brown, and was wearing upper dentures. The woman's eyes appeared to be brown. Her ears were not pierced. Police said she had a 13-inch long scar on her left hip, and a 6.5-inch scar on her right knee, which may have been from surgery.

McCONNELLSBURG, Pa. -Pennsylvania State Police in McConnellsburg said Friday that they have charged a New Jersey man with murdering his wife, whose body was found in a remote wooded area in Fulton County, Pa., 10 years ago. Stephen Alfred Vanderbeek, 51, of Ramsey, N.J., was charged on June 8 with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and aggravated assault; a warrant was obtained for his arrest. Police said the U.S. Marshal's Service arrested Vanderbeek in his hometown on Thursday.

To the volunteers, elected officials and donors who will make it possible for the Doris I. Billow skating rink to open in Zullinger, Pa. Billow's gift may nurture an Olympic champ. To the volunteer crews who installed 52 new window sills at the historic Entler Hotel in Shepherdstown. Now spared from any damage that rain seeping in could cause, this 1786 structure may be around for another 200 years. To Philadelphia Judge Jon Merriweather, who dismissed charges against a man who allegedly beat his victim into a coma because jail officials failed to get the defendant to court on time.

ANNAPOLIS - The fee for people who investigate unusual deaths in Maryland could rise under a bill considered Thursday by a state Senate committee. The state pays deputy medical examiners, who must be physicians, $80 per case. A bill proposed by Sen. Donald F. Munson, R-Washington, would make the fee a budget item instead of a law, allowing the rate to easily be raised. "We need to be able to pay an appropriate amount to get people who are able to do this," said Dr. David Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner.

A story reported in the history of Pennsylvania is tragically being repeated today. As Euro-American settlers advanced into Indian territory, American Indians retaliated with fire, tomahawks and arrows. The frontier residents pleaded with the Colonial legislature in Philadelphia for protection - to no avail. In desperation, the settlers carried dead bodies to the city and deposited them on the sidewalk in hopes that such drama would get a change. This, too, failed because the Assembly was dominated by Quakers who, as pacifists, would not allocate funds for forts and armaments.

When the soul leaves the body, only a corpse remains To the editor: The statement in the Dec. 30, 2011, Herald-Mail was that “Zell loaded the woman's body into his Chevy Blazer and took her to a cabin ...” Took “her” to a cabin? When one dies, there is no her, him, he or she left. Only the living stand alone as he, she, her or him. When the soul has left, the person is gone and only the corpse remains. It is disrespectful to the sanctity of life to refer to a dead body as though it is living.

“Are we just celebrating bin Laden’s death or are we celebrating the many lives that will be saved in the future, due to his death?” — Hagerstown “This country, America, has witnessed, through photography, through the media, since the Civil War, horrific pictures of victims of war. Now all of a sudden we get one of the worst leaders ever in history — and I rank bin Laden along with Hitler and Mussolini and people like...

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- The hearing for a man charged with the concealment of the body of slaying victim Stephen J. Tamburo Jr. was postponed Tuesday in Morgan County Circuit Court. The status hearing for Donovan "Donnie" Carl Younker, 28, was moved to Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. because the West Virginia Supreme Court has not yet made a decision on whether Younker's attorney may call Morgan County prosecutor Debra MH McLaughlin as a witness,23rd Circuit Judge Gina M. Groh said. Younker's defense attorney wants McLaughlin as a witness because she attended the police interview of Younker on Sept.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A Morgan County, W.Va., man was ordered Monday to serve a jail sentence of one to five years for concealing the dead body of a man who was found "discarded" in February 2008 in his vehicle in Berkeley County. Robert W. Unger, 48, who entered a no-contest plea to one felony count of concealment of a human body, also was fined $1,000 and ordered by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes to pay court costs. A no-contest plea means the defendant is not admitting guilt, but is stating that he will offer no defense.

Chambersburg student dies after April 19 crash Dead body found in Sleepy Creek Motorcyclist killed in accident Preps Area Roundup -- Wildcats combine for track title Williamsport edges Boonsboro 11-10 for first win

ANNAPOLIS - The fee for people who investigate unusual deaths in Maryland could rise under a bill considered Thursday by a state Senate committee. The state pays deputy medical examiners, who must be physicians, $80 per case. A bill proposed by Sen. Donald F. Munson, R-Washington, would make the fee a budget item instead of a law, allowing the rate to easily be raised. "We need to be able to pay an appropriate amount to get people who are able to do this," said Dr. David Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner.

WASHINGTON COUNTY pepperb@herald-mail.com A badly decomposed body found Friday on an embankment on Hopps Landing Road has been identified as Lawrence "Larry" Mitchell Skoczynski, a 46-year-old Hagerstown man with an extensive criminal history, who was released from the Washington County Detention Center on June 8, according to the Sheriff's Department and court records. Skoczynski's death has not been ruled a homicide, but his death still is under investigation, Sheriff's Department Investigator Ryan Shifflet said.

WASHINGTON COUNTY pepperb@herald-mail.com Steve Pettner doesn't look for the dead, he just finds them. After walking about 500 yards from his Hopps Landing Road cabin Friday, the former gravedigger was overcome by the smell of what he believed was a dead deer. He stopped and peered over a tree-lined embankment above Conococheague Creek, where he found a dead body. The body, whom police have not identified, is the third Pettner claims he's uncovered. "I said, 'Cripe.